Request

I am writing to formally (FOI) request information regarding NHS payments to dentists, specifically data from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) set found at https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/dental-data/nhs-payments-dentists (https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/dental-data/nhs-payments-dentists).

My request is for the data covering the information but time period of 1999 to 2015.

Response

We can confirm that the information you requested is no longer held. These records have been deleted in line with the NHS Business Services Authority’s Records Management Policy and Retention Schedule.

Please see Row 269 of the schedule here: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nhsbsa.nhs.uk%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2F2025-04%2FNHSBSARM012%2520Retention%2520Schedule%2520-%2520myhub%2520version%2520April%25202025.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK

Under our retention policy, we generally keep data for six completed years plus the current year (6+1). As the NHS payments to dentists dataset is published annually, we only hold data back to the 2015–16 financial year. Unfortunately, data for the period 1999 to 2015 is no longer available.